SQE1 FLK1 and FLK2: Full Topic List, Subject Weightings and What Gets Tested (2026)

SQE1 is split into two papers: FLK1 and FLK2 (Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 and 2). Each paper contains 180 single-best-answer questions sat over approximately five hours. Passing both is required to pass SQE1 — you cannot offset a fail on one paper with a pass on the other.

The two papers test entirely different subjects. FLK1 covers Business Law, Contract, Tort, Dispute Resolution and Constitutional Law. FLK2 covers Criminal Law, Property Practice, Land Law, Trusts, Wills and Solicitors Accounts. Both papers embed Professional Conduct questions throughout, accounting for roughly 15 to 20% of each paper.

This guide lists every topic in both papers, gives approximate question weightings, and explains what level of detail SQE1 questions actually test — which is not always obvious from the subject headings.

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FLK1: What Is In It

FLK1 sits on day one of the two-day SQE1 assessment. The six subject areas are tested across 180 questions.

Business Law and Practice

Approximate weighting: 22 to 27% of FLK1 (roughly 40 to 50 questions)

Business Law and Practice is the largest single subject in FLK1 and among the most technically detailed. It covers three overlapping areas: business structures, company law, and employment and taxation.

Business structures. The questions test your ability to identify the right structure for a given scenario — sole trader, general partnership, limited partnership, LLP, private company, or public company — and to recognise the legal consequences of each. Formation of partnerships (Partnership Act 1890), the distinction between LLPs and companies, and the limits of limited liability are tested in scenario questions, not abstract theory.

Company law. Directors' duties under the Companies Act 2006 (ss.171 to 177) are regularly tested. Questions present a scenario and ask which duty has been breached or what remedies are available. The distinction between ratifiable and non-ratifiable breaches, unfair prejudice petitions under s.994, and just and equitable winding-up under s.122(1)(g) Insolvency Act 1986 all appear. Share allotment, pre-emption rights, transfer restrictions, and company meetings (board resolutions vs written resolutions vs general meetings) generate consistent question sets.

Employment law. The Equality Act 2010 (protected characteristics, direct and indirect discrimination, harassment), unfair dismissal (ERA 1996: qualifying period, fair and unfair reasons, procedural fairness under ACAS Code), and TUPE (Regulations 2006: automatic transfer of contracts, information and consultation obligations) are all tested. The distinction between employment contracts and contracts for services (employee vs worker vs independent contractor) appears in scenario questions about tax and employment rights.

Taxation. Corporation tax, income tax, and VAT are tested at the level of identifying the correct treatment for a given scenario rather than computing precise figures. Key triggers: when VAT registration is mandatory, how corporation tax applies to close companies, the difference between capital allowances and revenue deductions.

Insolvency. Administration (moratorium, administrator's statutory purpose), creditors' voluntary liquidation, compulsory winding-up, and individual voluntary arrangements generate a cluster of questions in most sittings.

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Dispute Resolution

Approximate weighting: 12 to 16% of FLK1 (roughly 22 to 29 questions)

Dispute Resolution tests civil litigation under the Civil Procedure Rules. Questions are almost entirely scenario-based: a client has a claim, an event has occurred in proceedings, or a deadline is approaching.

Pre-action and issue. Pre-action protocols, the overriding objective, limitation periods (Limitation Act 1980: contract 6 years, tort 6 years, personal injury 3 years), and the claim form (Part 7 and Part 8) are tested. Correctly computing a limitation period from a given set of facts is a standard question type.

Track allocation. Small claims (up to £10,000 for most claims), fast track (£10,001 to £25,000), intermediate track (£25,001 to £100,000), and multi-track (above £100,000 or complex cases) each carry different procedural rules, cost regimes, and case management consequences. Questions often involve identifying which track applies and what that means for costs recovery.

Interim applications. Summary judgment (no real prospect of success), strike out (s.3.4 CPR), and default judgment are frequently tested. Interim injunctions require Fortis and American Cyanamid principles: serious question to be tried, balance of convenience, adequacy of damages.

Disclosure. Standard disclosure under Part 31: the four categories of documents, the duty to preserve documents, the mechanics of a disclosure list. Specific disclosure applications and the distinction between disclosure (telling the other side a document exists) and inspection (providing a copy) both appear in questions.

ADR. Mediation, arbitration, and without prejudice communications each have distinct rules. Costs sanctions for unreasonable refusal to mediate (under the post-Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 2023 framework) are tested in multi-track scenarios.

Costs. CPR Part 44 (general costs principles), indemnity basis vs standard basis, Part 36 offers and their consequences (including the costs sanctions if the claimant fails to beat a defendant's Part 36 offer at trial), and qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) in personal injury claims all appear.

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Contract Law

Approximate weighting: 11 to 15% of FLK1 (roughly 20 to 27 questions)

Contract Law in SQE1 is tested at the level of a practising solicitor advising on a commercial or consumer dispute, not academic analysis. Questions present a completed transaction and ask whether a contract was formed, whether a term was breached, what remedies are available, or whether the contract can be set aside.

Formation. Offer, acceptance (postal rule, communication rules for instantaneous methods), consideration (adequacy vs sufficiency, past consideration, part payment of debts, Foakes v Beer and the Pinnel's case), and intention to create legal relations (commercial presumption, social and domestic presumption) are all tested. Certainty and completeness of terms generate scenario questions where you must decide whether a binding contract exists.

Terms. The distinction between representations and terms, conditions (right to terminate and claim damages), warranties (damages only), and innominate terms (remedy depends on seriousness of breach) is tested through scenarios requiring you to identify the remedy available. Implied terms under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 appear regularly in consumer and commercial scenarios.

Exclusion clauses. UCTA 1977 (business-to-business contracts: negligence exclusions void unless reasonable; other terms: reasonableness test) and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (business-to-consumer: unfair terms, the grey list, transparency requirement) are tested in scenarios involving a party trying to rely on a limitation or exclusion clause.

Vitiating factors. Misrepresentation (fraudulent, negligent under s.2(1) MA 1967, innocent) and their remedies (rescission and/or damages depending on type) are the most heavily tested vitiating factor. Economic duress (illegitimate pressure, no practical alternative) and undue influence (Class 1: actual, Class 2A: presumed relationships, Class 2B: Etridge presumed on the facts) appear in scenario questions about transactions with family members or involving third parties.

Breach and remedies. Expectation damages (putting the claimant in the position they would have been in if the contract had been performed), remoteness (Hadley v Baxendale: reasonably foreseeable or within the contemplation of the parties at the time of contracting), the duty to mitigate, and penalty clauses (Cavendish Square Holding: legitimate interest, not out of all proportion) all appear. Specific performance and injunctions are tested in scenarios where damages are inadequate. Frustration (radical change of circumstances, not self-induced) applies in fewer questions but appears in most sittings.

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Tort Law

Approximate weighting: 9 to 12% of FLK1 (roughly 16 to 22 questions)

Tort questions typically involve a scenario in which someone has suffered loss or injury and you are asked whether there is a cause of action, whether liability is established, or what damages are available.

Negligence. The Caparo three-stage test (proximity, reasonable foreseeability, fair just and reasonable), breach (objective standard, professional standard from Bolam), factual causation (but for test, material contribution under Bonnington Castings for divisible diseases), legal causation and remoteness (Wagon Mound No.1: kind of damage must be foreseeable, not precise manner). Pure economic loss (Murphy v Brentwood, Hedley Byrne assumption of responsibility) and psychiatric harm (primary vs secondary victim from Page v Smith and Alcock) are both tested in scenario questions.

Occupiers' liability. Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 (duty to lawful visitors: reasonably safe for the purpose of the visit) and OLA 1984 (duty to trespassers: must be aware of danger, reasonable to offer some protection) are tested through scenarios involving children, tradespeople, and intruders.

Nuisance. Private nuisance (unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment of land: factors include duration, nature of locality, abnormal sensitivity) and public nuisance (sufficient section of the public affected, special damage for individual claims) appear in scenarios involving neighbours, development noise, or industrial activity.

Defamation. Libel (permanent form, actionable per se) vs slander (transient, special damage usually required except for limited categories under Defamation Act 1952). Defences: truth (s.2 DA 2013), honest opinion (s.3), publication on matter of public interest (s.4), privilege (absolute for court proceedings, qualified for many other contexts).

Vicarious liability. The two-stage Vicarious Liability test from Various Claimants v Barclays Bank: first, was there a sufficiently close relationship between the defendant and the wrongdoer; second, was there a sufficiently close connection between that relationship and the wrong committed. Applies beyond employment contracts to labour-supplying arrangements.

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Constitutional and Administrative Law

Approximate weighting: 5 to 8% of FLK1 (roughly 9 to 15 questions)

This is the least-weighted subject in FLK1 but one where candidates who under-revise it lose marks they should not lose.

Parliamentary sovereignty. The Enrolled Bill rule, statutory interpretation (literal, golden, mischief rules; purposive interpretation post-Pepper v Hart), and the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 and Retained EU Law Act 2023 generate questions about the current status of EU-derived legislation.

Judicial review. Grounds of review are the most tested area: illegality (exceeding jurisdiction, failing to exercise a discretion, improper purpose, irrelevant considerations), irrationality (Wednesbury unreasonableness, proportionality under HRA challenges), and procedural impropriety (natural justice: bias and fair hearing, legitimate expectation). Questions typically present a public authority's decision and ask which ground of review would succeed.

Human Rights Act 1998. Convention rights (Articles 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 14 and Protocol 1 Article 1) and their application through ss.3 and 4 HRA 1998 are regularly tested. The distinction between absolute rights (Articles 3, 4, 7) and qualified rights (Articles 8, 10, 11) affects both grounds of challenge and the proportionality analysis.

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Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct (FLK1 component)

Approximate weighting: 15 to 20% of FLK1 (roughly 27 to 36 questions)

Professional Conduct is embedded throughout both FLK1 and FLK2 rather than isolated as a separate section. The questions appear in the context of the substantive subject matter — a business law scenario where the solicitor faces a conflict of interest, a conveyancing transaction where money laundering is a concern, a dispute resolution matter where privilege arises.

The SRA Standards and Regulations (the Code for Solicitors and the Code for Firms) and the seven SRA Principles underpin every conduct question. The most tested areas across FLK1 contexts:

Confidentiality and privilege. The duty of confidentiality (Code para 6.3) survives the end of the retainer and applies even where information was not disclosed in confidence. Legal advice privilege (communications between solicitor and client for the purpose of giving legal advice) and litigation privilege (wider scope, includes third-party documents, requires dominant purpose of litigation) are distinct and frequently tested. The crime-fraud exception disapplies privilege where legal advice was sought to facilitate a crime.

Conflicts of interest. Own interest conflicts (solicitor's personal interest conflicts with client's) and client conflicts (acting for two clients whose interests conflict) both appear. The divided loyalty scenario — the solicitor knows information from one client that would help the other — is a standard question type.

Money laundering. POCA 2002 (ss.327 to 329: principal offences; s.330: failure to disclose; s.333A: tipping off), the MLR 2017 (customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, enhanced due diligence for higher risk clients), and the internal reporting procedure (MLRO, NCA Suspicious Activity Report, consent regime) are all tested.

Undertakings. Solicitors are personally bound by undertakings even where given without authority. Undertakings to pay third parties' costs, to hold documents to a party's order, or to register a charge generate scenario questions about the consequences of breach and the firm's responsibility.

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FLK2: What Is In It

FLK2 sits on day two of the SQE1 assessment. The six subject areas are tested across 180 questions, with Professional Conduct again embedded throughout.

Criminal Law and Practice

Approximate weighting: 18 to 23% of FLK2 (roughly 32 to 41 questions)

Criminal Law and Practice is the largest single subject in FLK2 and covers both substantive offences and criminal procedure. Questions shift between the two, often within a single scenario.

Substantive criminal law. Actus reus (voluntary act, omissions where a duty exists), mens rea (direct and oblique intention using Woollin foresight of virtual certainty, Cunningham recklessness, negligence). Murder (unlawful killing, malice aforethought, QBD jurisdiction), voluntary manslaughter partial defences (loss of control under ss.54 to 55 CJA 2009, diminished responsibility under s.2 HA 1957 as amended), gross negligence manslaughter, and unlawful act manslaughter. Non-fatal offences against the person (s.18, s.20, s.47 OAPA 1861, common assault and battery under CJA 1988). Theft Act 1968 offences: theft (five elements: appropriation, property, belonging to another, dishonesty using the Ivey v Genting test, intention to permanently deprive), robbery, burglary under s.9(1)(a) and (b). Fraud Act 2006: fraud by false representation, fraud by failing to disclose, fraud by abuse of position. Defences: self-defence and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 s.76 reasonableness framework, automatism (internal vs external cause), insanity (M'Naghten rules), intoxication (Majewski: voluntary intoxication available for specific intent not basic intent crimes).

Criminal procedure. Arrest (s.24 PACE 1984: constable's power, citizen's arrest), detention and interview (PACE Codes: right to legal advice, rest periods, interview cautions), charge vs requisition, bail (Bail Act 1976: general right, grounds for refusal, conditions). Mode of trial for either-way offences: plea before venue in Magistrates' Court, allocation hearing, election for Crown Court. Crown Court procedure: arraignment, fitness to plead (under the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964), guilty plea, not guilty plea and trial. Evidence: hearsay (CJA 2003: business documents, previous statements, res gestae, court's discretion), bad character (ss.98 to 113 CJA 2003: gateway conditions), special measures (YJCEA 1999). Disclosure: CPIA 1996, schedule of unused material, defence disclosure. Sentencing: purposes (s.57 SCA 2020), types of sentence (absolute/conditional discharge, fines, community sentences, suspended sentences, immediate custody), Newton hearings for disputed basis of plea, guilty plea discount (Sentencing Council guideline: one-third maximum reduction at first reasonable opportunity).

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Property Practice

Approximate weighting: 14 to 18% of FLK2 (roughly 25 to 32 questions)

Property Practice covers the practical stages of a conveyancing transaction from instruction to registration. Questions are almost entirely transactional scenarios with a step missing, a problem arising, or a decision required.

Pre-contract. Searches: local authority search (planning history, road adoption, enforcement notices), water and drainage search, environmental search, chancel repair liability search (where unregistered land is involved), mining searches in affected areas. Property Information Form (TA6), Fittings and Contents Form (TA10), copies of title documents. The solicitor's duty to the lender where acting for both buyer and lender.

Exchange and completion. Methods of exchange (Law Society formula A, B, C), synchronisation in chains, deposit (10% standard, 5% and 10% variants), insurance risk passing on exchange. Pre-completion searches: priority search (OS1 for registered, K15 for unregistered: creates a 30-day priority period), bankruptcy search (K16), company search. Completion: transfer of funds, execution of transfer deed (TR1 or TP1), release of keys.

SDLT. Rates for residential property (0%/2%/5%/10%/12% bands, higher rates additional dwellings surcharge at 3% above standard rates, first-time buyers' relief, mixed-use property). Non-residential rates. The 14-day completion return requirement and penalties. Lease premium and rent calculations.

Land registration. First registration (FR1), dealing with registered land (AP1), priority period protection, updating the register, overriding interests that bind a registered proprietor without entry on the register. Restriction entries and their effect on dealing with the title.

Leasehold transactions. Differences between freehold and leasehold conveyancing: additional searches (management company accounts, service charge history), Notice of Transfer, Notice of Charge, consent to assign under a licence to assign. Forfeiture clauses and section 146 notices.

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Land Law

Approximate weighting: 9 to 13% of FLK2 (roughly 16 to 23 questions)

Land Law is the most conceptually demanding subject in FLK2. The overlap between registered and unregistered title, the mechanics of overriding interests, and the complexity of co-ownership all generate scenario questions requiring multi-step reasoning.

Registered land. The Land Registration Act 2002 framework: three grades of interest (registrable dispositions, interests that override, interests that must be protected by notice or restriction). Overriding interests under Sch.3 LRA 2002: legal easements and profits, interests of persons in actual occupation (Williams and Glyn's Bank v Boland), short legal leases (seven years or fewer). When overreaching operates (payment to two trustees) and when it does not (resulting or constructive trust beneficiary in occupation not overreached by payment to a sole trustee).

Adverse possession. Registered land: the LRA 2002 two-stage process (apply after 10 years, proprietor notified, if no objection register; if objection, a further two years of possession needed). Unregistered land: Limitation Act 1980, 12 years' adverse possession, title extinguished. The requirements for factual possession and intention to possess (animus possidendi) are tested in scenarios with disputed boundary encroachments.

Easements. Creation: express grant or reservation, implied grant (Wheeldon v Burrows: quasi-easements exercised before severance, apparent, continuous, reasonably necessary for the land's reasonable enjoyment; s.62 LPA 1925: converts licences and precarious rights to easements on a conveyance; common intention; necessity). Requirements for a valid easement: Ellenborough Park — accommodation and serving the dominant tenement, capable grantor and grantee, capable of forming the subject matter of a grant. Extinguishment by unity of ownership, release, or abandonment.

Co-ownership. The trust of land framework: legal estate held as joint tenants only, equitable ownership as joint tenants (right of survivorship) or tenants in common (separate shares). Severance of equitable joint tenancy: by written notice under s.196 LPA 1925, by course of dealing, by act on own share (Goodman v Gallant). Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996: trustees' powers, beneficiaries' right to occupy, court's power to order sale.

Mortgages. Creation (legal charge by way of legal mortgage: s.87 LPA 1925). Powers of mortgagee: possession (immediate right but courts use Administration of Justice Act 1970 s.36 to adjourn possession hearings for residential property), power of sale (s.101 LPA 1925: when arises vs when exercisable), appointment of receiver, foreclosure (rare). Equity of redemption and the clogs and fetters doctrine.

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Wills and Administration of Estates

Approximate weighting: 9 to 12% of FLK2 (roughly 16 to 22 questions)

Wills questions test formal validity, capacity, and the distribution rules on intestacy. Estate administration questions cover the personal representative's duties and the procedural steps from death to distribution.

Formal validity. Section 9 Wills Act 1837: in writing, signed by the testator (or by another in the testator's presence and direction), signed in the presence of two witnesses present at the same time, witnesses attest and sign. A witness beneficiary's gift lapses but the will remains valid. Alterations made before execution must be initialled; after execution must be executed with the same formality. Statutory wills for incapacitated individuals under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Capacity and knowledge. Banks v Goodfellow test: testator must know the nature of the act and its effects, the extent of the property disposed of, the claims of those who might be expected to benefit, and must not be suffering from a disorder that poisons the affections. Knowledge and approval is presumed when capacity is established but rebutted by suspicious circumstances (for example, a will drafted and witnessed by the sole beneficiary). Undue influence: actual coercion or threats that overbear the testator's free will — distinct from the contract doctrine, which operates differently.

Revocation. By subsequent valid will or codicil, by marriage or civil partnership (automatic revocation), by physical destruction (done by the testator or in their presence and direction with the intention to revoke), by divorce or dissolution (former spouse's gifts and appointment as executor lapse: WA 1837 s.18A). Conditional revocation and the doctrine of dependent relative revocation.

Intestacy. Administration of Estates Act 1925 as amended by Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014: the surviving spouse or civil partner receives all personal property, the statutory legacy (now £322,000 and subject to periodic revision), and half of the residue if there are also issue; the other half goes to issue on the statutory trusts. If no surviving spouse, the estate passes to issue on the statutory trusts; then to parents, siblings of full blood, siblings of half blood, grandparents, aunts and uncles of full blood, aunts and uncles of half blood, and finally to the Crown. The 28-day survivorship requirement.

Administration. Executors (appointed by will, vest in the estate without court order following grant of probate) vs administrators (letters of administration required). Obtaining the grant: oath, HMRC account for taxable estates (IHT400 where gross estate exceeds £325,000 or where gifts in the prior seven years exceed the nil rate band), IHT205 for excepted estates. Collecting assets, paying debts in the correct order (funeral expenses, testamentary expenses, preferential debts, ordinary unsecured debts), distributing the estate.

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Trusts

Approximate weighting: 8 to 11% of FLK2 (roughly 14 to 20 questions)

Trusts questions test the requirements for creating a valid express trust, the special rules for charitable trusts, the consequences when a trust fails, and the duties and liabilities of trustees.

Three certainties. Certainty of intention: imperative words (must, shall) create a trust; precatory words (wish, hope, desire) do not unless the context overcomes the presumption. Certainty of subject matter: the trust property must be ascertainable; conceptual uncertainty (vague description) defeats the trust. Certainty of objects: fixed trusts require a complete list of all beneficiaries; discretionary trusts satisfy the is or is not test from McPhail v Doulton. The distinction matters because it determines validity and what information trustees must maintain.

Constitution. The general rule: a declaration of self as trustee constitutes immediately; a transfer to third-party trustees requires the correct method of transfer for the type of property. The rule in Re Rose (equity assists the volunteer where the transferor has done everything necessary on his part) and Pennington v Waine (unconscionability as an additional basis for treating a constitution as complete) are tested in incomplete gift scenarios.

Resulting and constructive trusts. Presumed resulting trusts from the purchase money resulting trust principle. Automatic resulting trusts where an express trust fails. Common intention constructive trusts in the cohabitation context: the two-stage test from Lloyds Bank v Rosset (acquisition-stage evidence, or post-acquisition conduct that is sufficiently significant), adjusted by Stack v Dowden and Jones v Kernott for quantification of shares in domestic property.

Charitable trusts. The four heads under the Charities Act 2011: prevention or relief of poverty, advancement of education, advancement of religion, and other purposes beneficial to the community (the fourth head now a distinct category with a non-exhaustive statutory list). The exclusively charitable requirement. The cy-pres doctrine: initial failure (charitable intent must be shown) vs subsequent failure (proceeds go cy-pres automatically).

Breach of trust. Personal liability of trustees: account for profits, equitable compensation for loss. Defences: s.61 Trustee Act 1925 (acted honestly and reasonably, court exercises discretion to excuse), beneficiary consent or acquiescence (Saunders v Vautier). Tracing in equity: when available (fiduciary relationship, equitable proprietary interest, identifiable property), the backwards tracing approach, mixture with innocent third-party funds, lowest intermediate balance rule.

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Solicitors Accounts

Approximate weighting: 6 to 9% of FLK2 (roughly 11 to 16 questions)

Solicitors Accounts carries the lowest weighting in FLK2 but consistently generates the highest proportion of failed marks relative to its size. This is because errors in understanding the SRA Accounts Rules 2019 tend to cascade: misclassifying one receipt means every related transaction is wrong.

Client money vs office money. The fundamental distinction: client money is money held or received by a firm that belongs to a client or third party. Office money belongs to the firm. Mixed funds must be identified and split. The receipt of a payment on account of costs and disbursements before a bill is delivered is client money; once a bill is delivered and agreed, it can be transferred to office account.

Receipts and payments. Client money must be paid into client account promptly (same day or next working day where possible). Payments from client account must be for the client and made on the client's proper instructions. Paying counsel's fees from client account: only where the funds belong to the client; if the firm has already paid counsel from office account, the reimbursement from client account requires delivery of a bill first.

Prohibited activities. Using client funds to cover the firm's own expenses is a fundamental breach. A firm cannot borrow from client account. Interest on client money must be paid to the client unless the amount is negligible (the de minimis threshold).

Ledger scenarios. SQE1 presents accounts questions through short client ledger scenarios: an entry is wrong, or you are asked what the correct bookkeeping entry is for a given transaction. The double-entry principle applies: every transaction has two entries, one on each side of the ledger.

Common fact patterns. Stamp Duty Land Tax: paid as a disbursement. If funds received from the client specifically for SDLT are held in client account and submitted to HMRC, the receipt and payment are client account transactions. If the firm pays SDLT from office account and recoups from the client, the reimbursement arrives in office account. Counsel's brief fee paid on account before trial: the position depends on whether the firm has yet paid the fee itself.

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FLK1 vs FLK2: Which Is Harder and Why

FLK2 produces lower average scores than FLK1 across most SQE1 sittings. There are structural reasons for this that are not simply about content difficulty.

Topic clustering. FLK2 clusters its harder topics together. Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, and Trusts are the three lowest-scoring subjects in SQE1, and all three are in FLK2. FLK1's equivalent challenging subject, Business Law, is difficult but more familiar in structure to candidates with commercial backgrounds.

No law degree familiarity effect. Most law degree programmes spend more time on Contract, Tort, and Constitutional Law than on Trusts, Solicitors Accounts, or Criminal Procedure. FLK1 subjects sit closer to core LLB content; FLK2 subjects are more likely to require fresh learning even for law graduates.

Revision calendar drift. Most candidates structure their revision with FLK1 subjects first. By the time they reach FLK2 subjects, they have less time and more fatigue. The result is that FLK2 topics get systematically less revision time than their weighting deserves, which the pass rate data reflects.

The practical implication: if you are planning your revision calendar, front-load Solicitors Accounts from the start. Do not leave it for a pre-exam cram. It compounds with Land Law and Trusts in FLK2, and a weak Accounts performance affects your score on questions that appear later in the paper.

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How to Use This Topic Breakdown

This breakdown covers the full scope of the SQE1 syllabus. Not every sub-topic listed above appears in every sitting — the SRA samples across the specification. But the areas flagged as consistently tested (directors' duties, CPR track allocation, Part 36 offers, judicial review grounds, s.9 Wills Act formalities, adverse possession under LRA 2002, the SRA Accounts client money distinction) appear often enough that treating them as optional is a mistake.

For revision planning:

• Treat Business Law and Practice, Criminal Law and Practice, and Property Practice as your three highest word-count subjects. Each requires the depth of a full module, not a topic summary.
• Treat Solicitors Accounts as disproportionately important relative to its weighting. Errors compound. Give it consistent early attention.
• Use the FLK split to structure your mocks: sit FLK1-only mocks and FLK2-only mocks on separate days, under exam conditions (five hours, no notes, no breaks beyond the scheduled ones), to diagnose which paper is weaker before you need to act on that information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What subjects are in FLK1?

FLK1 covers Business Law and Practice, Contract Law, Tort Law, Dispute Resolution, Constitutional and Administrative Law (including EU retained law), and the Legal System of England and Wales. Professional Conduct is embedded throughout and accounts for approximately 15 to 20% of the paper.

What subjects are in FLK2?

FLK2 covers Criminal Law and Practice (including Criminal Procedure), Property Practice, Land Law, Trusts, Wills and the Administration of Estates, and Solicitors Accounts. Professional Conduct is embedded throughout FLK2 as well.

How many questions are in FLK1?

FLK1 has 180 questions. All are single-best-answer MCQs, meaning each question has five options (A to E) and one correct answer. The paper lasts approximately five hours including two scheduled breaks.

Is FLK1 or FLK2 harder?

FLK2 produces lower average pass rates across most sittings. The three most consistently difficult SQE1 subjects (Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts) are all in FLK2. FLK1 has Business Law and Practice as its main challenge, which is demanding but familiar in structure to candidates with a commercial background.

Can you pass SQE1 by only passing one paper?

No. You must pass both FLK1 and FLK2 to pass SQE1. A pass on one paper cannot offset a fail on the other. If you fail one paper you must resit that paper only; you do not resit the paper you passed.

What percentage of SQE1 is Business Law and Practice?

Business Law and Practice accounts for approximately 22 to 27% of FLK1 (around 40 to 50 questions out of 180), which is roughly 11 to 14% of the total SQE1 marks across both papers. It is the largest single subject in FLK1.